Chuck Hagel’s confirmation targeted for McConnell driven filibuster

McConnell and his Republican cohorts have decided to filibuster Chuck Hagel’s confirmation Friday as Secretary of Defense. They have become so obstructive, that they won’t even vote for one of their own.

In addition, the Republicans continue to support the NRA, which supports gun manufacturers and gun sellers, although most Americans believe we need some changes in what civilians should be allowed to possess. Only 20% of Americans are gun owners. The rest of us, the greater majority, have a right to feel safe going about our daily lives.

At the near end of the 112th Congress, 219 bills had been passed in 2 years, with 20 pending before the 113th began. This makes this group of legislators the most ineffective in history. The 111th Congress passed 383 bills, the 110th 460.

If all 239 bills were passed and sent to the President’s desk, more than half of them were perfunctory. Thanks to the Republican controlled House of Representatives, no matter what the bill, they automatically said “no” without compromise or discussion.

It’s no secret that both sides of the aisle are influenced by lobbyists. There is a difference. Republicans are supported by lobbies from big business, the AMA, the tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the banking industry, defense contractors, and the NRA.

First of all, I believe that lobbyists are in violation of the Constitution. The United States of America was the first “constitutional republic” ever created. The citizens of our country are expected to elect Congressmen and Senators to vote and work for them. When special interests, with billions of dollars to throw away intervene between the American public and their representatives, they are interfering with the intention of the first amendment.

The average citizen does not possess the ability to petition the government, simply because they don’t have the necessary monetary ability. Because lobbyists have been allowed to dominate the decision making of our electorate, the working class suffers. When there are continued subsidies to the oil companies, when the “drug dealers” overprice pharmaceuticals, and even refuse to make certain life-sustaining drugs because they are not as profitable, when banks continue to use the public’s money for their investments, when the tobacco industry is protected from extinction, although they assist in the unnecessary deaths of thousands every year, and when we waste trillions of dollars throwing money to our military institutions, primarily so defense contractors can make billions of dollars at the expense of the taxpayer, we are not being represented by those we elected.

The Republican party is already non-existent. I am calling for its disbandment. It was once said that if “you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”. They are the problem.

Today, after last night’s “State of the Union” address, McConnell called the President’s speech “the same old rhetoric, and the same liberal agenda”. Universally labeling everything shows a marked lack of intelligence. What Mr. Obama proposed was common sense, ideas to advance our country. Republicans such as McConnell, Boehner, and the “thirsty” Rubio, want to keep our country where it is. Where it is, is under the top ten in every issue that raises the quality of life of its citizens. Europe, Asia, and Canada have nurtured policies and ideas that have elevated the quality of life of their people. We have become regressive instead of forward thinking.

I sincerely believe that President Obama is willing to compromise with his adversaries to accomplish the goals he set forth. Already the right side of the aisle is vehemently saying “no way”. They need to go. They are passé. They don’t represent their predecessors in any manner.

I had hopes during the first week of the 113th Congress that things might be changing. The mandate given to Mr. Obama after the election suggested that Republicans would be forced to advance into the 21st century. I was not just wrong, I was entirely mistaken. The Republican party is the past, and now I believe they should be extinct.